- #1
First, there's Iona, her potrayal is done so well that I can't find a flaw yet.
She's a bit naive but definitely not s*upid.
Good example is the way she sees through her master's personality.
Him being horrible was not something she was unaware of in her last life. She was however extremely emotionally dependent on him.
She had been denied even the right to find worth in herself so she found worth in her loyalty to her master. When he abandoned her, he cut off the only connection between them. She could abandon him easily because he devalued their only connection to that point.
What she always wanted and wants in her current life is to be valued by someone who will treat her with respect and affection.
In last life she chose the crown prince, in this life she chose the ML.
Moving on to Leroy, the ML, he's really a good man. He was never cruel to Iona, even when he thought that she was the crown prince's mistress. One can say that he is a gentleman. But he is also a man who raised his house back after a disaster, and it shows. He's savvy, sassy, politically competent and a strategist who knows how to deal with hostility. The way he deals with the jealousy of Erich made me think highly of him and the way he deals with crown prince is pretty satisfying. He really plays the crown prince well.
His developing feelings for her in this life is also pretty slow, IMO currently he just likes her romantically while Iona has been in love with him for a while.
But since Iona is not as in touch with her emotions as Leroy that is not very obvious.
But it can be seen through their Povs. Leroy is always considerate but he is noticably lacking a romantic view of her in the first 50 chps. There's curiosity, sympathy and compassion, a little childish hope of reunion but not love and desire. Even his jealousy is a bit vague, hard to ascertain whether it comes bcuz he likes her or becuz she is his fiancee.
Not to say he doesn't care for her but I personally feel Iona may be right that the initial care for her were borne of guilt and sympathy.
Iona though is very clear. She once said that he was man so good that some ppl could only be envious. She admires him, (knowing him to be compassionate and trustworthy), she liked him even then, but, in previous life, his good was a shrap contrast to her bad (also they were on opposite sides) so she never dared approach him believing that he hated her and had a lover so she could keep her distance. But when he saved her she couldn't help but be greedy (hence the kiss in her dying moments) and wants to stay with him in her current life.
But she hasn't admitted to the depth of her feelings so if the author thinks differently and wants to make it so that Leroy is more deeply in love than Iona then I can't help it. 🤷♂️🤷♀️
Best part though is that the miscommunication gets resolved once they start trusting each other. These two are well on their way to become a power couple to not mess with. 👏[collapse]Another great thing is the way Iona and Richard's relationship is shown:Spoiler
Through Iona pov we can see exactly why Richard was never considered as love interest by her in her previous life.
His actions were filled with desire to control her life without any care for her suffering. He never helped her bcuz he wanted her to be only able to depend on him emotionally. He condoned her ab*se to meet his own ends and manipulated her life from the shadows.
But Iona knew this. She, an ab*se victim, may not have able to stop depending on him emotionally in her previous life but she also never invested feelings beyond loyalty in their relationship. Hence, as mentioned before, his abandonment completely ended their connection.
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